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GOP touts state budget reform

August 19, 2009 By

(This story was updated at 5:30 p.m.)

Matt Strawn, Scott Raecker, Steve Kettering (l-r) A trio of top Iowa Republicans are touting a series of state budget reforms. Matt Strawn, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, held a news conference at the Iowa State Fair to discuss the proposals.

"We have a state budget that has increased by over 20 percent in just the last two and a half years," Strawn said. "We have seen Iowans burdened with a state debt that my two year old daughter is still going to be repaying after she graduates from college."

The Republicans propose a constitutional amendment which would limit state spending to no more than 99 percent of state tax revenue. That restriction is currently state law, but Representative Scott Raecker, a Republican from Urbandale, accuses Democrats of repeatedly bypassing the law.

"Iowans don’t spend more than they make in their own family," Raecker said, "and we should not spend more of their family than we receive at the state."

The Republicans also advocate a change that would require a two-thirds vote of legislators in order to approve new state borrowing. Today, a simple majority is all that’s required. Republicans have been critical of Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat, for pushing a more than $800 million borrowing program he has called a state-level economic stimulus package.

Senator Steve Kettering, a Republican from Lake View, calls that a turning point. "This year’s college freshman will be almost 50 years old when that debt’s paid off and that’s just unconscionable," Kettering said.

A spokesman for Governor Culver was not immediately available.  Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs issued a statement.

"While Republican legislators were voting no, no, no to anything that would give Iowans hope in the midst of this national recession, Democrats in the Statehouse were leading this state by balancing the budget responsibly without raising taxes, keeping our commitments to Iowa schoolchildren, creating the 4th best business climate in the nation for businesses in 2009, and helping create thousands of jobs across Iowa by making Iowa a national leader in the production of wind energy and other renewable fuels," Gronstal said in a written statement.

Click on the audio link below to listen to today’s news conference.

AUDIO: Republican news conference…9 min MP3

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , ,

Pharmacy Board hears from proponents of medical marijuana

August 19, 2009 By

Iowa Board of Pharmacy public hearing on medical marijuana. State regulators today heard from dozens of people who believe medical marijuana use should be legalized in Iowa.

The testimony in Des Moines was part of the first of four public hearings planned around the state by the Iowa Board of Pharmacy.

Dr. Joe McSherry, a neurologist from Burlington, Vermont, told the board that marijuana is less habit-forming than other drugs.

He claims less than 10% of marijuana users end up abusing the drug, compared to one-quarter of heroin users, one-sixth of cocaine or alcohol users and one-third of the people who use tobacco.

"So, in terms of its risk of abuse, (marijuana) is lower than a lot of the drugs that you have to schedule here," McSherry said. Last month, the pharmacy board rejected a petition to reclassify marijuana in Iowa. Following the public hearings, the board will make a recommendation to legislators about whether Iowa should legalize marijuana for medical purposes.

Doctor Edward Hertko, a retired physician from Des Moines, is among those pushing for the change. "Since 1979 and especially since the mid 1990s, there have been numerous studies that have shown that many patients suffering from AIDS, cancer, epilepsy, Lou Gehrig’s disease and other debilitating illnesses…(the studies) find that marijuana provides some relief from their symptoms," Hertko said.

Robert Manke of Des Moines told state regulators he uses marijuana illegally to deal with injuries he suffered in three traffic accidents. "I know what pain is like," Manke said. "I’m not here because I want to get high. I’m here because I want to stop being sick. I want to stop being persecuted and I need your help."

Only one person spoke out against medical marijuana during the first two hours of today’s public hearing, which is scheduled to last until 7 p.m. Carl Olsen, with Iowans for Medical Marijuana, is hoping the board members take the testimony to heart.

"They should have done this 13 years ago," Olsen said of the public hearing. "They’re just playing catch up now and from what I heard today, it’s a slam dunk, they’re going to find marijuana has accepted medical use."

Dale Woolery, spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy, is among those hoping the board will continue to back Iowa’s ban on medical marijuana.

Woolery says "the body of science to date does not support the premise" that marijuana is a safe enough drug for use as medicine. The three remaining public hearings are scheduled for September 2nd in Mason City, October 7th in Iowa City and November 4th in Council Bluffs. 

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Vilsack urging new terms for troubled farm loans

August 19, 2009 By

U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack talks with reporters at the Iowa State Fair. U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack held a "town hall" meeting at the Iowa State Fair this morning and fielded just one question about health care reform. The rest focused on ag-related policies.

Vilsack, the former Iowa governor, promised the crowd the U.S.D.A. is doing what it can to help struggling pork and dairy producers.

"This is real. The pain is real," Vilsack said. "The stress and difficulty is real."

A crowd of about 200 sat on wooden bleachers as Vilsack spoke from the center of a show ring on the fairgrounds. Vilsack told the crowd he’s directed the Farm Service Agency to work with financially-strapped farmers who are finding it difficult to make their loan payments.

"If we have to reduce an interest rate, if we have to maybe reduce a principle amount, let’s refinance, let’s restructure the loans that we have control over, that we directly lend to the farmer and that is now in the works," Vilsack says. "We sent a letter to every borrower. We sent a letter to our Farm Service folks and we basically said: ‘Work with these folks.’"

Vilsack said he will meet, by phone, next week with executives from all the commercial banks that offer ag loans that have been guaranteed by the U.S.D.A. According to Vilsack, that portfolio is "thousands and thousands and thousands" of loans.

U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack answers questions at the Iowa State Fair. "And while we can’t force them to do this, we are going to jawbone them as best we can to explain to them it doesn’t do them any good to lose a customer," Vilsack said.

"They, too, need to work with farmers. They need to figure out ways in which they can restructure these loans…Allow these folks who can make it, who can show you a cash flow that makes sense over the course of the next several years, allow them to stay in business."

About an hour into the forum, Denise O’Brien — a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for state ag secretary in 2006 — brought up the issue of health care reform.

"One of the things which is such a point of contention now all over the United States is the health care issue," she said. "I believe strongly that we have to have a single payer health care system need that will cover people so we don’t have to worry about losing our farms, losing our homes, and that we don’t have to worry about whether or not we can go to the doctor for preventative medicine."

Vilsack did not advocate a specific approach to resolving the issue.

"There’s lots of debate about what the answer is, but I’ll tell you the one answer that ought not to be acceptable to anybody regardless of what your position is on all of this is: maintaining the status quo," Vilsack said. "…We have got to reform health care in this country. Rural America really comes out on the short end of a very long stick under the current health care system."

Vilsack told the crowd 23 percent of people who live in communities with less than 2500 residents do not have insurance and that’s why health care reform is crucial for rural Iowa and rural America.

Click on the audio links below to listen to the numerous introductions of Vilsack, Vilsack’s opening remarks to the crowd, and then the nearly hour-long question-and-answer session with the crowd.

AUDIO: Introductions…15 min MP3
AUDIO: Vilsack opening remarks…15 min MP3
AUDIO: Q and A…55 min MP3

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

DOT says crop dusting problems low compared to number of flights

August 19, 2009 By

Crop dusting plane. (Photo courtesy DOT) Two crop-dusting planes crashed Tuesday in separate incidents in Iowa, taking the total to seven aerial applicators crashing this year statewide.

There were six crashes of ag aviation planes in all of last year, according to Tim McClung, planning and outreach manager for the Iowa D.O.T.’s Office of Aviation.

“We are at the peak of the ag aviation season right now and activity is at a high for the year,” McClung says. “It is important to keep it in perspective that it’s estimated four-million acres of cropland are treated by air every year in the state of Iowa.”

He says that works out to about 26,000 annual missions. While we’ll sometimes see vintage biplanes buzzing over the rows of corn and soybeans, McClung says plenty of new crop-spraying planes are being built.

“The manufacture of ag aircraft right now is at an all-time high,” McClung says. “The demand for ag aircraft is extremely high so there are a lot of new aircraft mixed with some older aircraft out in the ag aviation fleet.”

He says 86% of the airports in Iowa support agricultural aviation and there are about 50 Iowa-based crop dusters, in addition to another 140 or so operators who fly in from out of state for the seasonal work. McClung says it takes a lot of work for those planes to cover four-million acres of cropland.

He says, “Over the past several years, the number of acres applied has increased due to particularly spraying for aphids on soybeans and spraying fungicides for corn.” McClung says it’s often simply not practical for a farmer to try and cover his crop with these chemicals from the ground.

“It’s really a matter of time,” he says. “When crops need to be treated, they need to be treated quickly and ag aviation is a way to treat a lot of acres in a very short period of time.” Iowa first began seeing aerial application of chemicals to crops in 1947.

Today, ag aviators will typically charge farmers $15 an acre to spray for aphids on soybeans and perhaps $25 per acre to drop fungicide on corn.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With: ,

Appeals Court upholds sentence in Waterloo gizzard stabbing

August 19, 2009 By

The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of an eastern Iowa man in a stabbing that involved gizzards. Court records show Nathaniel Taylor of Waterloo was walking home on April 28th of 2007 when he encountered Robert Hanes. Taylor admitted Hanes had given him $2.25 one week earlier to buy gizzards.

Taylor also admitted that he did not buy the gizzards, or return the money. And says Hanes became mad and started yelling and then stabbed him in the face. Taylor suffered cuts on each side of his lower lip and now has scars on his face and numbness in his lower lip and upper chin.

Hanes claimed self defense at his trial ..over the incident, but was found guilty of willful injury causing serious injury, ands was sentenced to not more than ten years in prison. Hanes appealed his conviction based on the jury instructions that included possible sentences that he said prejudiced the jury. Hanes said his lawyer was ineffective for not objecting to the instructions.

The majority of the appeals court justices ruled the instructions to the jury did not end up influencing the jury’s verdict. But justice Amanda Potterfield did issue a dissent — saying the instructions did prejudice the jury and she would reverse the verdict and grant Hanes a new trial.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Signing of Favre changes Sage Rosenfels’ role with Vikings

August 19, 2009 By

Sage Rosenfels’ role for the Minnesota Vikings changed on Tuesday when the team signed Brett Favre. The former Iowa State quarterback started the Vikings’ first pre-season game.

Favre will start Minnesota’s next pre-season game this Friday against Kansas City.Rosenfels says the Farve signing wasn’t a total shock, as it is something that has been ongoing for three months.

“For me personally obviously this wasn’t what I was hoping for, you know I tried to get traded here and got traded here,” Rosenfels says.

Rosenfels says Favre’s presence does not change how he approaches the upcoming season. He says if and when the team needs him, he will be read and will play playoff caliber football and will keep working as if he was the anointed starter.

Rosenfels appeared to have the inside track on the starting job. He says he was excited to get out the other night and start a game and says he felt he played well and has a good grasp of the offense. “I’m just gonna keep working, keep working, stay ready, stay focused, and be ready when this team needs me,” Rosenfels says.

Defensive back and former U.N.I. standout Benny Sapp, says “its a good day for us.” Sapp is happy to have Favre on board, as he says “the organization upstairs, they know what they’re doing..they go me here.” 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Number of Iowans living in FEMA trailers drops below 200

August 19, 2009 By

A spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says the number of Iowans living in temporary trailers has dropped below 200. Crystal Payton says people continue moving into permanent housing and that’s exactly how the temporary housing program is supposed to work.

"We consider this quite a milestone for the numbers to go below 200…at our peak there were 564 families and individuals housed in these housing units," Payton says. She says that peak came in October of last year. There were 197 people in the temporary trailers as of Tuesday (August 18th). Payton says a majority of the trailers were in Linn County and the Cedar Rapids area.

Those living in the temporary trailers were sent information in May of this year on how they could buy the trailers. Payton says some people are still considering that option. Payton says they don’t know how many will be purchased, as a number of people have expressed interest, but she does not believe an sales have been completed. Payton says those who remain in the trailers can do so for free through November 27th.

Payton says the program does offer them a chance to seek an extension to stay in the trailers after the November deadline, but she says they could then be charged rent to live there. Payton says the trailers that are no longer occupied will be used again or sold. She says they pull the trailers back to a staging area where they are cleaned up and if they are still usable, sent to another staging area for use in another disaster.

Payton says if the trailers are considered excess property and not longer needed, then they are sent to a government auction site.  

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government
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